How organizers are mobilizing Pa.’s 600,000-member strong Asian American community to elect Kamala Harris

Wei Chen has been a political organizer and activist for more than 10 years. But he just received his first ever candidate campaign mailer translated into Chinese two days ago from Democratic Sen. Bob Casey’s reelection campaign.

“I refused to throw it away because I want to keep that,” Chen said. “I want to show all the politicians that this is a model you should practice.”

Chen is part of a network of elected officials, organizers and activists who are mobilizing Pennsylvania’s 600,000-person strong Asian American and Pacific Islander, or AAPI, community, as they work to elect the first Asian American president. The electorate makes up more than 3% of eligible Pennsylvania voters. It’s diverse and hails from regions stretching from Hawaii to the Middle East. That means the group’s top issues are varied, organizers said. And because of the wide ethnic range, Vice President Kamala Harris’ identity as a half-Indian woman may not resonate much with all AAPI voters.

“When we talk about her, I hardly talk about her identity,” said Philadelphia Councilmember Nina Ahmad. “Because what I’m talking about is what will she deliver for the people.”

After Trump attacked Harris’ ethnicity, her campaign launched several ads focused on AAPI voters in battleground states including Pennsylvania to “remind Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander voters that the choice in this election is clear for our communities,” Andrew Peng, the Harris campaign’s AANHPI spokesperson, said in a news release at the time. The Harris campaign has since launched its Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders coalition in Philadelphia, and hired someone specifically to lead its AAPI outreach efforts in the city, among other targeted outreach to AAPI voters.

In response to questions about their efforts to reach Asian American voters, former President Donald Trump’s campaign said Asian Americans experienced “strength and successes” during his presidency.

“There has been no bigger advocate for the AAPI community than President Trump, as he created an environment where diversity, equal opportunity, and prosperity were afforded to everybody,” said Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign senior adviser.

The two campaigns’ interest in Indian American voters popped into view this past Wednesday when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz celebrated Diwali at a Hindu temple in Montgomery County , while Trump commemorated the holiday on social media.

While there is not reliable state-specific polling on election sentiment in the community, a late September survey from Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote found 66% of Asian American voters nationally plan to support Harris, compared to just 28% who plan to support Trump.

“We know that, not just for identity reasons but for policy reasons, [Harris] will be so much better for Asian Americans than Donald Trump ever will be,” said Mohan Seshadri, executive director of the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance. He cited issues like affordable housing, nonharmful immigration solutions and the war in Gaza.

“It’s history-making,” Seshadri said, “and also it’s not enough to elect someone from our community if she’s not going to stand with our folks.”

Take a ride down South Philadelphia’s Seventh Street business corridor and you’ll see a mass of “Asians for Harris” signs calling out specific ethnicities. State Sen. Nikil Saval (D., Philadelphia) pointed to the work he did with the South Philly Voter Project to help make that happen.

“Through a lot of work over many years, the community is super well-organized and politically active,” he said of the historic refugee and immigrant population in the neighborhood.

Seshadri’s APIPA knocked on 300,000 doors to speak to voters in 22 languages, sent mailers printed in 10 languages, and digital ads in at least six languages.

In Philadelphia, AAPI residents represent more than 6% of the eligible voter population and Indian Americans make up the largest Asian ethnic group in the state, according to data from Indian American Impact.

Montgomery County officials translated the county voter guides into eight different languages, including Hindi and Korean, for the first time, said Commissioner Neil Makhija.

“No matter who they’re gonna vote for, we want to make sure that every citizen has a say in the future of the country,” Makhija said.

Chen, who is the civic engagement director at the nonpartisan Asian Americans United, said his organization helped host a voter drive party in the Northeast that saw 39 Chinese Americans register at once.

“That’s gorgeous,” Chen said. “That means people care about voting.”

Abortion rights, racism, safety, climate change, and housing affordability are among the top issues for AAPI voters, Saval said.

“But I would say that there’s also issues that affect different communities differently,” Saval added. “The Cambodian community is very concerned about Trump’s immigration policies.” Trump has leaned on anti-immigration rhetoric to bolster his campaign, and recently said he would renew an 18th-century law that gives presidents more deportation power.

Seshadri highlighted the case of Sereyrath “One” Van, a Cambodian refugee who grew up in Philadelphia and now faces deportation.

“That is something that we need our elected officials to do better on,” Seshadri said.

Harris’ policy proposal to use Medicare to cover home health care should appeal acutely to South Asians, said Ahmad.

“The South Asian community usually takes care of the parents,” she said. “I was a [part of] the sandwich generation myself.” Ahmad took care of her ailing father and her young child while working full time. “It was very difficult. And I know what so many people do in order to take care of their loved ones.”

Saval said he’s seen a “genuine excitement,” about Harris’ Indian ancestry.

“I think people see the images of the vice president’s mother, who’s been a huge part of her story … leading up to this, and see themselves in it,” Saval said. “I see my family’s story, in part, in that.”

Harris’ Indian background has also brought playful colloquialisms like “auntie” more into the mainstream.

“It is incredibly exciting as an Indian American to have someone who one day my kids can look at and say that’s our Auntie President, or President Auntie, as some folks are calling her,” said Seshadri.

Makhija said he has a “Vice President Aunty” — another accepted spelling of the term — sweatshirt. Born in America to parents who immigrated from India, the term “auntie” — one of endearment, respect, and sometimes used jokingly — means something to him.

“Our whole family was abroad and the family that we had instead was the other immigrant families around the Lehigh Valley where I grew up,” Makhija said.

Aunties are always checking up on younger people. When it comes to Vice President Harris, the term underlines her relationship to Indian Americans.

“She’s of the family,” Makhija said.